


Breaking Expectations

by DominikVargas (EverettV), SnowyCarnations (CrimsonCarnations)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Blood, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Forest Nymph, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, Supernatural Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 00:47:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9468014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverettV/pseuds/DominikVargas, https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonCarnations/pseuds/SnowyCarnations
Summary: Feliciano is a vampire who was kicked out of his clan and forced into hiding by the sunlight, and when Antonio finds him, he just can't bring himself to kill him. No matter how much he's suffered at the hands of vampires.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shadowrivertonio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowrivertonio/gifts).



Antonio looks just like any other human. He lives on a small farm out of town and works all day. He lives alone, which is better for him anyway, as he has a dark secret that is only apparent on the full moon. He’s a werewolf. Even though Antonio has long since gotten control over his wolf form, there is always an accident, causing panic in the community nearby. 

Antonio sighs as he walks along the path toward town, needing to pick up some more food and a new rope, because his last length shredded. He stops walking when he hears a quiet whimper, looking around to find the source. He heads into the trees and sees a vampire huddled into the shade of a tree. Antonio sighs softly, biting his lip. He can’t help. He shouldn’t. But he would never want another creature to suffer. 

“Hey there.... No don’t panic it’s okay! I’m a werewolf but I won’t hurt you. I want to help out. I’ll be right back with something to shade you with. Where is your clan?” Antonio sighs softly and heads back to his house. He isn’t sure what will help enough, so he grabs a few blankets to wrap around the vampire so he can carry him. 

Feliciano had been completely kicked out of the clan he had belonged to. He had barely managed to find a hollow tree before the sun came up and he was trembling and terrified. He heard noises and flinched at almost all of them. He knew it wasn’t very scary to tear up. And he was supposed to be scary as a vampire. But he was scared and he couldn’t move because of the sun and he was already sore in position he was in. 

When he heard a voice he whimpered and tried to move away, wincing as his arm touched a bit of the sun. He didn’t respond, scared and not really sure how to explain what had happened. Besides the werewolf was gone before he could think of a way to. He shifted and waited, not sure if he would really come back. 

“Hey… What’s your name?” He asks gently. “Wrap yourself in these. Cover every inch of your skin. I have a spare bedroom that I can sunproof, but until I do you can wait in the basement. I’ll take care of you.” Antonio smiles softly at Feliciano, holding out the blankets to him. Of course he’s suspicious, and every inch of him is telling him to run, and he knows if his best friends find out about this they’ll be pissed, but he can’t help it. 

“Okay… Are you covered completely? Alright, up we go.” Antonio gently pulls Feliciano out of the small hollow and holds him close, running back to his house. He takes Feliciano into the basement. “It probably smells funny down here but you should be safe from the sun down here. I’ll put up some sheets in the bedroom so you can be in there, alright. What do you feed on?” He asks, wanting to know if it’s human or animal. 

Feliciano sniffled and nodded, taking the blankets shakily and wrapping himself in them. “F-Feliciano” he whispered, to answer Antonio’s question. He nodded and trembled as he was picked up. He shifted when he was set down and pulled the blankets away so he could look around. He was scared himself since he was a vampire and this creature was his species greatest enemy. At least that was what they had been told. As far as he know the scratch of a werewolf could turn a vampire human, which would kill him. “A-animals mostly.” he whispered, shivering a bit. “Th-thank you”

“Okay. Well, I’ll set up the room but we’ll wait to move you until night fall, just in case.” He smiles. “I’m going into town. I’ll see if I can’t buy any animals while I’m there. I don’t have a whole lot of money, I’m just a farmer, but I’ll do what I can. If you hunt you cannot leave carcasses, I can’t afford the suspicion, okay? I’ve worked hard to stay hidden.” 

Feliciano nodded. “You don’t have to spend money for me. I can last a while without food. I won’t hunt around here. I don’t want to be an inconvenience. Maybe if you could just help me find a place to go during the day. You don’t have to set up anything big for me.” He rubbed his arm. “I got kicked out of my clan” he whispered, referring back to Antonio’s first question, the one he never really got to answer. 

Antonio shakes his head. “I will purchase you an animal, I don’t want you to go without food.” He responds, giving Feliciano another smile. “I’m sorry. I’m not part of a pack. I was at one point but I left willingly.” He rubs the back of his head then pulls up his shirt to show the tattoo across his stomach. “You probably don’t know this pack. They’re from far away.” He chuckles and drops the shirt again. 

“Lo siento, I am getting off track. I will be back soon, please be careful.” He smiles and leaves again, jogging to get to town. He frowns to himself and tries not to think of what his friends are going to say if they find out he kept a vampire. At this point he’s pretty sure that everyone is enemies with vampires, even people such as fae and sprites and nymphs. Even shapeshifters… Well, shifters other than werewolves. 

Feliciano looked at the tattoo and shrugged. He didn’t know werewolf packs anyway since he had to avoid them. “Okay. Thank you” he whispered. He moved to one of the walls and leaned against it, looking up at the ceiling of the basement and sighing. He used one of the blankets that Antonio had brought him over in to curl up and try to calm himself down. He was still terrified, since he was alone and a vampire and not very many people liked them. He buried his face and tried to think of something different. 

Antonio gets a few goats for Feliciano, though the animals struggle with him at first. He buys more ropes and more seeds for his farm. He comes back, sighing softly and running a hand through his hair. He ties the goats up in the front and heads down to the basement, looking around for Feliciano before spotting him and smiling brightly. “We need to talk about a few things, alright?” He asks gently. 

Feliciano looked up at him when he entered the basement again. Even though he was smiling the mention of needing to talk about something worried him. He didn’t know what it could possibly be about and he was honestly more worried since up until now, the creature who was meant to be his greatest enemy was being very kind to him. “S-Si?”

“Well, I’m going to say you can stay here as long as you want. I won’t kick you out or force you to stay. I have goats upstairs for you eat if you want them, but you should probably wait until dark. I have these two friends, one’s a shapeshifter but not like I am, and the other is a forest nymph, and both of them hate vampires, so if they come over please be nice to them? I’ll try to get them to understand you’re a good guy.” Antonio doesn’t actually know if Feliciano is a good guy, but seeing as how he hasn’t been attacked yet, he feels confident that he’s right about that. 

Feliciano nodded. “Okay. Thank you. I’ll try. But if they hate vampires shouldn’t I just stay away from them? If they come during the day I’ll be in the room anyway” he whispered, rubbing his own arm and looked up at him. “My clan always said werewolves would hurt us and kill us. But...you’re so nice...I don’t understand” he whispered. 

Antonio shrugs. “They drop in without warning. They’ll be able to smell you.” He chuckles softly and tilts his head. “Well maybe it’s because I know what it’s like to have to leave your friends and family behind. Any other werewolf who found a vampire in their territory would’ve ripped them apart. I’m not like that. I don’t kill for anything but food.” He responds and forces another smile onto his lips. 

Feliciano nodded. “I guess that’s true.” He looked up at Antonio when he went to answer the next part. He bit his lip and nodded. “Oh...I’m sorry. But I’m very thankful that you didn’t do that” he whispered, smiling weakly. “They won’t hurt me though right?” he asked. “Will you get in trouble for keeping me here?” 

“I hope they won’t hurt you, but I don’t know what they’ll do.” He responds. “I will protect you, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be upset. On second thought, that will make them more upset.” Antonio crouches in front of Feliciano. “I have no one to get in trouble with, as long as you don’t raise suspicion in the town. The sun is going down soon, I’ll be back when it’s down and we can set up your room.” 

Feliciano nodded. “I’ll try to stay away from the town honestly. I don’t like humans very much. I don’t like the instincts I get when I am around them” he ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay.” he shifted a bit. “I probably won’t have moved.” he whispered, shifting a bit. 

Antonio nods. “Can I get you anything? I have books? I don’t do much in my spare time. I have a lot of farming to do during the day and I hunt for dinner, so I don’t have much spare time to begin with.” He crosses his arms. “But, if you want a few books I could always pick some up for you. You could sleep, do you need pillows or blankets?” 

Feliciano shrugged. “I’ll probably just sleep. I’m supposed to be asleep right now anyway. I don’t need anything else. The blankets I have are enough. You carrying me in covered in blankets was a bit of an advantage” he chuckled shakily and shifted. 

Antonio nods. “Alright. I’m going out hunting. I’ll be back soon.” He heads upstairs, grabbing his bow and arrow set. He sighs deeply before heading out, aiming at the first animal he finds so he can get back quickly. He shakes his head as he drags it toward his house. A strange smell gets his attention, but he ignores it for the time being. 

Feliciano nodded. He laid down and curled up, pulling the blanket around him and closing his eyes. He shifted every now and then, since he wasn’t used to sleeping like this. But he managed to fall asleep after a while. 

Antonio makes himself dinner and then goes down to the basement. “Alright. Are you ready? The sun is mostly down now, so we should be okay.” He pauses when he realizes that Feliciano was awake. “Okay… I’m sorry for waking you up. But we need to move you to your room and prepare it.” He smiles awkwardly. 

Feliciano blinked awake and rubbed his eyes. He yawned and sat up. “Hm? It’s okay. Okay.” he stood up. “As long as I am not in direct sunlight it should be okay” he shifted and brushed through his hair with his fingers. 

Antonio nods and leads him upstairs, taking him into the guest room. He pins a blanket up over the window then turns to Feliciano. “The goats are out front. What do you need to feel comfortable in here?” He pins another blanket over the window and smiles at Feliciano again. “The bed is soft, but do you need a… well… a coffin?” He asks. 

Feliciano followed him, looking around the room. “It’s nice. I usually slept in a coffin but you don’t have to get one. I can sleep on the bed. Really just having shelter is nice.” he shifted and smiled shakily. “How do you want me to help?” he asked. 

Antonio shrugs. “Do whatever you want to make it more like something you’d like to sleep in. I’d rather order well out of town for a coffin, so it might take a while for me to get it.” He lights a candle and then smiles at Feliciano. “I’ll be in the room just down the hall if you need anything. Feel free to leave if you want to.” He sets the candle down then heads to his own room to get ready for bed. 

Feliciano nodded. “Okay. Thank you” he sighed and sat down on the bed, looking around a bit. He ran his fingers through his hair again and tried to decide what he should do. He was rather hungry and Antonio said something about their being goats. He mentioned it a few times so he decided he would go out and feed on one of them. 

Antonio glances at the calendar on his wall. Almost the full moon. He sighs softly and runs a hand through his hair then lays down, starting to go to sleep. He jerks awake again when the goats go into a panic, but relaxes and shakes his head at himself. “Must be the vampire.” He mumbles and goes to sleep fully. 

Feliciano drank from the goat then dragged it away from the house. He pulled out a few of the bones and built them into a small grave. He dug a hole and put the goat in it burying it and leaving the bones there. He sat there for a moment and breathed slowly. The bones shaped into a small tombstone. 

“What are you doing here, filth?” A voice sounds from behind him. “Last I checked, Toni doesn’t like when vampires are on his territory.” Gilbert crosses his arms over his chest and glares down at Feliciano. “So what are you doing here?” He growls. 

Feliciano’s eyes went wide and he whipped around, stumbling back and falling over in the process. “I-I” he gulped and started to tear up again. “I-I g-got k-kicked o-out of m-my clan. H-he...h-he s-saved m-me.” he whimpered. 

Gilbert smirks, grabbing his chin. “Very likely story.” He shoves Feliciano backwards to the ground. “He would never risk being around you.” He kicks Feliciano in the chest. “If you’re so comfortable with him, why don’t you call for him. I know he’ll hear you. I bet he told you that we all hate vamps here. All of us had something stolen by then. How do I know it’s not your clan that took my family?” He hisses. 

Feliciano gulped again and winced, whimpering softly and curling up, tears pouring down his cheeks. He didn't even know if Antonio would really hear. Let alone if he would actually come to help. But maybe it would prove something to this man. If he could at least call out to him. “A-Antonio!” he called out weakly, whimpering again and looking up at Gilbert. “I-I don’t know! Th-that’s wh-why I got kicked out. I don’t agree with the things they do. I don’t like hurting people.” he trembled softly and buried his face in his arms, sobbing by this point. 

Antonio jerks up in bed at the faint sound of his name. He’s not used to it. He gets up and goes outside, listening intently for a few moments before following the sounds of sobs. “Gil, what’s going on?” He asks when he sees his friend’s back. “Hey… Be nice to Feliciano.” Antonio stands between them. “He hasn’t done anything. I chose to let him be here, so you need to leave him alone.” He grits his teeth. Gilbert glares at him then at Feliciano. 

“That filth has taken away from both of us. His kind is awful. How could you protect it?” He asks, baring his teeth at Antonio. “It took away my brother, my father, your entire family was killed by vampires!” He shouts. Antonio nods a bit, looking down. 

“I know. But it’s not Feliciano’s fault. He didn’t even recognize my pack symbol. So stop. He can’t control his entire species anymore than you or I could. If it was you being blamed for the actions of your entire race, you would be upset too.” Antonio responds, eyes gleaming dangerously. “Go away. Go away until you can be kind to Feliciano. I don’t want you around here.” He snaps, baring his teeth. 

Feliciano looked up at them, surprised that Antonio actually came. He listened to then arguing and sniffled. He looked down at his hands and slowly stood up, backing away from them. Gilbert was right about his kind. They were monsters. And whether he liked it or not he was one. He shouldn't be around Antonio if it was going to ruin his friendships. It couldn’t possibly be good of him to ruin friendships just because he needed help. He could figure something out. He just had to be careful not to run into any more creatures that hated his kind. He turned and started to run away from them, tears pouring down his cheeks still. He eventually had to stop, unable to see where he was going. He collapsed to the ground and buried his face in his hands. 

Antonio looks back when Feliciano dashes off. He growls at Gilbert. “Now look what you’ve done.” He snarls, crossing his arms over his chest. He doesn’t know whether to chase after Feliciano or stand here and continue to fight with Gilbert. “You know, it might be shocking, but sometimes you should give creatures a chance.” He dashes off after Feliciano, looking around for him. 

Feliciano stayed where he had fallen. He heard Antonio running towards him but he didn’t move. He didn’t actually know if it was Antonio. He just figured something was running towards him. It didn’t matter who it was at this point. He just didn’t care. He wanted to cry. It didn’t matter where he went. No matter what he did. Someone was always there to look down on him and call him a monster or say he was different or wrong.

Antonio finds him and gently picks him up. “Feli I’m sorry. I told you they would be kind of upset. Vampires did very bad things to my family as well as Gilbert’s. I can tell you what happened, if you want, but I think you should come back to my house for now. Perhaps you should not go out without me for a while.” 

Feliciano sniffled and looked up at him. “I-I...don’t want to ruin your f-friendships just because I’m different. I don’t have any friends anymore. I don’t want to take yours away from you. I should just stay away from everyone. It would be better anyway” he whispered, sniffling. 

Antonio rubs his back. “If they can’t find it in their hearts to accept you’re different, then perhaps I shouldn’t be friends with them anyways.” He responds gently. He carries Feliciano back to his house and sets him down on the bed again. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?” He asks, brushing Feliciano’s hair away from his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Feliciano nuzzled into him and sniffled a bit. He shifted once he was on the bed again and wiped his eyes. “I-I’m okay. He kicked me and pushed me around but I’m fine. I was just scared.” he whispered. “I don’t remember my clan taking any werewolfs. Most of the people in my clan were scared of them. Only the elders really fought with them”

Antonio sits down on the bed with Feliciano and shrugs. “I’ll tell you a story then. I didn’t think it was you and your clan, but it was definitely vampires.” He looks down at his lap. “I made it seem like I was kicked out but that’s not true. My entire family was slaughtered and all my friends, right in front of me. Whatever clan it was, you don’t smell the same.” He starts, voice going flat. 

Feliciano looked up at him and blinked he looked down. “Oh...I-I...I’m sorry. I don’t know who that was. But it isn’t right. I’ve never liked the way that my species acts. They’re cruel.” he sniffled and wiped his eyes. “I got in trouble because I was too nice. I don’t know how much you know about vampires but we all have some type of unique abilities. I can turn bones into anything I want. And before me anyone who could do that made weapons. I made tombstones. I tried to make sure anything i killed was taken care of in the best way possible. And I was hated for that.” he whispered. “I’m really sorry about your family. I wish I could do something. I wish my species wasn’t so awful” 

Antonio listens to him and nods, then shrugs. “It was in the winter, we were weak because of lack of food. The vampire clan nearby was restless, and dealings were tense. They raided our camp, the only reason that I survived was my mom shoved me in a basket. I was only a little kid when it happened. I remember thinking it was a game, and I looked out the basket, then I saw my older brother and mother murdered. They ripped them apart. I hid again. I was so scared. I kept hoping my father would come find me but he never did. I stayed in the basket until hunger drew me out a few days later. Gilbert found me. He’s older than me but not by much. And then Francis found us. He took us in and raised us. He’s much older than the two of us, because he’s a forest nymph and they age weirdly.” 

Feliciano nodded. “Gilbert seemed like he was concerned about you, at least a little. So that makes sense. What is he?” he asked. “He didn’t smell like a werewolf. He smelled like something I haven’t really smelled before. You said something about a shapeshifter. Was that him? What does he change into? I don’t know much about the things my clan hunted because I didn’t want to hunt like that. But they taught us about the smells. I don’t remember anything like that”

Antonio chuckles softly and looks at him. “He’s just a shapeshifter. I’m not surprised you haven’t smelt it, most vampires think they managed to wipe out the entire race. That’s not true, but they don’t know that. Gil and a couple others still are around. Gilbert can turn into any shape he wants. Even look like someone else.” He responds. “He’s looked like me a few times, it’s actually kinda scary.” 

Feliciano nodded and shifted a bit. “That’s cool. I feel like you could have a lot of fun with that” he chuckled weakly and wiped his eyes around.” He hesitated a moment then leaned his head on Antonio. “Did something happen to Francis too? Or does he not like vampires because they hurt you and Gilbert?” 

“I’m not really sure if they’ve ever personally hurt Francis.” Antonio puts his arm around Feliciano after a moment, sighing softly. “He doesn’t like talking about his life before he took us in. He really doesn’t like humans or really any other creatures. I think that nymphs are just suspicious beings by nature.” He whispers, giving him a forced smile. “It probably has a lot to do with what they’ve done to the two of us as well, though.” 

Feliciano smiled weakly when Antonio put his arm around him. “I guess that makes sense. I’ve heard about nymphs. But I have never met one. So I really wouldn’t have known. But if he cares about you two a lot it probably has to do with that”

Antonio leans his head on Feliciano’s head and sighs softly. “Francis is a good man. He would probably listen to you and trust me when I say you’re not a bad person. He’ll probably show up as soon as he can, Gil probably ran right to him and told him what happened anyway. So, yeah, you’ll get to meet him soon.” 

Feliciano nodded. “Oh...Is that bad? Is he going to be upset with you? Should I be here if he comes? I don’t want you to have to fight with him about it too.” he paused, noting that Antonio said he would probably listen. “If he doesn’t listen. I don’t want you to lose what friends you have left because of me”

Antonio shakes his head. “It’s not bad. I’m not going to get in trouble. Francis will listen to my side as well before doing anything abrupt. He’s a good man.” He repeats, holding Feliciano close. “But I’m really tired, so I’m going to go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He lets go of Feliciano and leaves the room, pausing in the doorway. “I hope your chest gets better. I’m sorry Gilbert attacked you like that.” He whispers before heading to bed. 

Feliciano nodded. “Okay. Thank you” he whispered. He shifted and touched his chest. “I’m okay” he assured. He laid back on the bed and sighed heavily. He didn’t plan to leave at this point, scared of what might happen if he did. He just hoped that Gilbert and Antonio’s friendship wasn’t completely ruined. 

Antonio is sure that once Gilbert calms down, everything will be okay again. He sighs softly and goes to sleep, curling up tightly. He has a nightmare that night. He wakes up screaming and almost falls out of bed when he sees someone in his room. He takes a deep breath and starts to calm down. “God dammit Gil.” He snaps, heart pounding. 

Feliciano’s eyes went wide when he heard screaming and he stumbled to his feet. He opened the door and looked around, sighing in relief when he noticed it was still dark out and there was no sun shining in the house. He went to try and find Antonio’s room, worried about him. 

Antonio looks down at his lap and takes another deep breath. “I’m in here Feli!” He calls, hearing him out in the hallway. He turns his attention back to Gilbert. “When is Francis coming?” He asks softly, getting more comfortable in his bed. He’s exhausted from not being able to get any proper sleep, but he doesn’t care at the moment. Gilbert rolls his eyes. 

“He doesn’t want to come until tomorrow night. He wants me to talk to you first and work it out, because we’re brothers and we shouldn’t fight over stuff like this.” Gilbert huffs. “How did you know it was me? I disguised myself and everything! I was hoping you’d whine to me because I made myself Francis.” He pouts and sits on the edge of the bed. 

Antonio laughs. “You’re so funny, Gil. I can smell the difference. That might work on Franny, because he can’t smell as well as we can, but it doesn’t work on me.” He shakes his head at his friend’s antics. 

Feliciano jumped when he called and nodded, moving into the room and blinking when he saw Gilbert. He backed up slightly. He didn’t recognize anything but the smell and it was a bit worrisome. He knew this wasn’t a nymph so he wasn’t sure who it was. It smelt like Gilbert had so it could be another shapeshifter. Or the one from before disguised as something else. He would have no way of telling. “I….I just heard you scream and I wanted to make sure you were okay...wh-who is that?” he asked, looking towards Gilbert and tilting his head. 

Antonio smiles at Feliciano and sits up more. “I was having a nightmare. It happens a lot, so I should have warned you, I guess.” He looks back at Gilbert and chuckles again. “This is Gilbert. But he disguised himself as Francis, so you’ll know what he looks like I guess.” Antonio watches as Gilbert changes back into his usual form and looks at Feliciano again. “See?” 

Feliciano nodded slightly. “Oh okay.” he watched Gilbert and shivered a bit. “Oh. Well now I know. Should I just leave you guys alone? I can’t tell what time it is but if it’s near day I would have to go to bed anyway” he shifted and rubbed the back of his neck. 

Antonio shrugs. “If you want to. I don’t mind either way.” He says gently, oblivious to how angry Gilbert is once more. Gilbert shoots a glare at Feliciano then looks away again, huffing softly. He decides to try to be nice, since Antonio wants him to, and Francis warned him about how defensive Antonio can be, though he knew already. 

Feliciano looked at Gilbert and shifted a bit. “I...uh...Don’t want to interrupt.” he decided, backing up and going back into the room he was in before. He sat on the bed and sighed, pulling his legs up and putting his chin into his hands. He was honestly scared of Gilbert at this point so for now he would just leave the two alone.

Antonio lays down to go to sleep again, still tired. Gilbert lays with him, since he doesn’t want to go back out. Antonio sighs softly, closing his eyes quickly and going to sleep once more. He doesn’t have nightmares this time, to his relief. He climbs out of bed the next morning and gasps softly, not wanting to. He checks the calendar again and groans, running a hand through his hair. He wishes he wasn’t a werewolf in this moment, so he didn’t have to worry about leaving for the full moon. 

When the sun came up, Feliciano crawled under the covers that were out on the bed and closed his eyes, hiding his head under the blanket. He found it harder to fall asleep this time but managed anyway and curled up, shifting every now and then. 

Antonio starts to prepare things while Gilbert watches. He looks at Gilbert then down again. “I need you to make sure that Feliciano has enough goats to eat while I’m gone. I’m gonna leave later today, so I make sure I make it in time.” He packs his bag with some stuff he usually ends up needing immediately after he changes back. 

Gilbert huffed a bit. “Fine. But I still don’t understand why you are taking care of him like this. If he’s some vampire he should be able to take care of himself shouldn’t he? They have no problem killing things on their own” he muttered. 

Antonio frowns at him. “Fix your attitude, he hasn’t hurt you. I don’t want him in town, he might get hurt.” He responds. “And besides, he doesn’t want human he wants animal. I got goat because it was easy, but get him chickens if you want.” He shrugs, setting his backpack on his bed and sighing. “And I am taking care of him because I know how it feels to be alone. You do too, I thought you’d be more sympathetic.” 

Gilbert only huffed again. “What if this is a trick, Antonio? When have we ever seen a lone vampire? That’s not a phrase for a reason. Lone wolf is a phrase. No one has ever heard of a lone vampire. What if he is stalling while the whole clan comes? I’ll feed him, for you. But I want you to think about the consequences of taking in a creature like him. They can't control themselves.” he grumbled. “How do we know he will even accept food if I bring it?” he muttered.

“Just leave it outside. When you so nicely attacked him last night he had just finished a goat I brought. I’ll only be gone for a couple of days. Maybe 3 or 4 depending on how bad it is.” Antonio sighs deeply. “If he is stalling for his clan then I guess I’m dead, aren’t I? I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, Gil. Could you do the same?” He faces his best friend with a tired gaze. “Please?” 

Gilbert let out a heavy sigh as he looked at Antonio. “Fine. I’ll try. For you. Not for him.” he muttered. “Just be careful with yourself while you are gone. Okay? I don't want you getting hurt.” he crossed his arms and sighed again, softer this time. “He sleeps during the day right? So we probably won't even interact anyway” 

Antonio nods and smiles. “Well, I haven’t been able to control myself as well recently, so I’m actually very worried.” He whispers. “I don’t want to hurt anybody…” He rubs his arm softly and closes his eyes tightly. “I only hope that if I get out of control, you or Francis can stop me. At least it only lasts a night.” He opens his eyes again. “I have to go work on the farm, prepare it for my absence. You can follow me around if you want.” 

Gilbert nodded. “If anything happens we will be there and we will do whatever we need to to help you calm down. You’ll be fine” he assured, smiling at Antonio and nodding. “Sure I’ll follow you around. Ya know I could probably help you if you showed me what to do” 

Antonio smiles at him and nods. “I’m sure you and Francis will be right there to help. I almost died last time, I got really out of control. I warned Francis a little while back.” He starts to harvest anything that’s ready. “Okay. So I need to sow the new seeds, since the corn season is over I need to clean up the old stalks and plants the new crop.” He sets aside the harvesting basket. “So you take this.” He hands over the tool and picks up the other, showing Gilbert how to do it. “Then you toss the stalks over there.” He shows him where to put them. 

Gilbert watched him, eyebrow raised. He shifted and nodded. “Alright. I think I get it” he muttered, starting to do the same thing Antonio had been doing before. 

Antonio chuckles and works alongside Gilbert. He’s excited that it took a lot less time than usual. Then he drags the rake through the ground and starts to plant the new crop then goes to his small tomato garden by the front door and harvests the ripe ones, bringing them inside and putting them away. “Feel free to eat some of the stuff in my kitchen if you stay overnight.” 

Gilbert nodded and smiled a bit. He followed him inside. “Alright. I’m not sure what I will do yet. I’m not sure I trust spending the night.” He muttered. “But you slept with him here and it was fine. So I really don’t know”

Antonio smiles at him. “It will be fine if you stay here. I only woke up because I had a nightmare but he seemed worried about me anyway.” He shrugs. “So I’m sure it will be fine. You might even get along if you had a civil conversation. Besides, he knows you’re here and he’s sleeping peacefully.” He tells Gilbert and smirks softly. 

Gilbert nodded. “Fine. I might. I don’t know yet” he sighed and looked over at him. “What civil conversation could we even have? And how do you know what he is doing?” He asked, huffing a bit. “He could be lying awake right now” He muttered. 

Antonio nods and chuckles softly. “So? How is that a problem, maybe he’s not tired. I don’t know how vampires work.” He defends himself and pouts at him. “And maybe you could try to see if he likes books or anything. Because that does happen, you know that, right?” He turns to Gilbert and hugs him tightly. “I’ll see you in a few days. I’m going to the usual place, okay? I can already tell it’s going to be a rough one… Would you mind checking on me the night of the full moon?” He asks weakly. 

Gilbert sighed. “I meant if he is scared of me he might have trouble sleeping” he muttered. “I’ll figure it out Toni. Don’t worry okay? And of course I will come see you and check on you. I don’t need you getting hurt or hurting anyone else” he chuckled a bit and smiled. “It’s gonna be okay” he assured. 

Antonio shakes his head. “I don’t think it’s going to be okay. My transformations are getting more painful instead of less and I have no idea why.” He mutters. He looks exhausted when he’s not putting up a fake front. “I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go tell Feliciano that I’m leaving, then I have to go.” He goes to Feliciano’s room and carefully slides inside. “Feli?” He asks softly. 

Gilbert sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Alright” he muttered. “Maybe they won’t. But we’ll figure it out.” He sighed and leaned against the wall while he waited. 

Feliciano woke up and rubbed his eyes, looking towards the door. “Hm?” He blinked and took in a deep breath as he remembered where he was after sleeping. He shifted and looked towards Antonio. “Si?”

“I have to go because the full moon is coming and I have to be safely away from civilizations. Gil said he might stay around to take care of you.” Antonio tells Feliciano where he’ll be. “You can come visit if you want but it won’t be safe and it’s probably not in your best interest. I have been trying not to hurt people but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.” He sighs softly. “So I’ll be back in a few days. I usually rest for a while after the change.” 

Feliciano rubbed his eyes again and nodded. “Okay. I don’t think me visiting is the best idea, no” he whispered. “But be careful okay?” he shifted a bit. He nodded again. “Okay. As long as he doesn’t try to kill me I’m sure I can live with Gilbert’s help.”

Antonio nods. “I’ll try. I’ll probably be banged up when I get back, but don’t worry, it’s normal. Oh, yeah, I warned Gil to leave you alone. Well other than helping you.” He smiles softly. “But he’ll be gone the night of the full moon. He promised to check on me. Thank you.” He walks out carefully and grabs his bag. “See you later!” He calls then starts heading in the direction of his hideout. 

Feliciano nodded and waved a bit. “Si okay. Thank you. Ciao” He watched him go then laid back down and curled up. He took a bit longer to fall asleep this time but managed to again. 

Gilbert said goodbye to Antonio as well before going to sit down. He looked outside to see how close it was to getting dark, wondering when the vampire would be waking up. 

Antonio sighs softly as he heads off. He reaches there by nightfall, and he hopes that Feliciano and Gilbert are going to get along now that it’s time for Feliciano to be getting up. He curls up in the cold bed and closes his eyes tightly, not looking forward to the next few days being alone. He hates to be alone. 

Feliciano woke up once it was no longer light outside and went out of the room, shifting a bit. He rubbed his eyes again before going outside and looking around. He drank from the other goat Antonio had got before taking it to bury it as well. 

Gilbert watches Feliciano with suspicious eyes, but he doesn’t move to stop him from eating the goat or burying it. He’s confused as to how Antonio could trust this… This filth. He shakes his head and gets something to eat from the kitchen. Gilbert huffs, deciding that he’s going to stay here to keep an eye on Feliciano and make sure he’s not planning on killing Antonio. The shapeshifter runs a hand through his hair and crawls into Antonio’s bed, exhausted. 

Feliciano made the grave quickly then went back inside. He explored the house a bit, not sure what to do. He didn’t know if Gilbert had stayed or where he was but he was just going to wonder around the house for a while with nothing else to do.

Gilbert sleeps for a few hours then gets up, wanting to play a joke on Feliciano. He morphs into Antonio and steps into the hallway. “Feliciano?” He calls out tentatively. “Hey, are you out there?” He leans against the wall, trying to get himself to smile like Antonio. 

Feliciano blinked when he heard Antonio’s voice and shifted in confusion. He moved to where he heard the sound and tilted his head a bit. “Antonio? I thought you left?” he asked, shifting a bit. “You smell weird...are you okay?” 

Gilbert shrugs. “I did but I forgot something. I’m only here for a few minutes. You’re really adorable.” He smiles brightly, trying to mimic his friend. “You look better in the moonlight.” He puts a hand to his mouth. “I forgot to grab some things I need while I’m changing. Don’t worry about it.” Gilbert picks up a few random things and starts to leave. “Don’t get hurt, alright?” He walks out and into the woods. He changes back into Gilbert once he thinks he’s far enough away and tucks the items into a log, to be retrieved at a later day. 

Feliciano blushed deeply and buried his face. “Ah si okay. Ciao. You too” he went into the room again and buried his face in his pillow, trying to process why Antonio was flirting with him like that. Also why he smelled a lot like Gil. He assumed it was just because they were friends and sighed, looking up at the ceiling. 

Gilbert comes back and goes to bed again, smirking softly. He thinks it’s funny to pull pranks on people, and Feliciano was particularly gullible in his opinion. Plus, Antonio just said to be nice, he didn’t say he couldn’t tease Feliciano a little bit. He thinks all vampires are terrible, but Feliciano hasn’t attacked him. When he does, Gilbert will not let Feliciano get away with it. 

Feliciano sighed and stayed in the room until he was supposed to go to bed again. He curled up in the bed and covered himself up, closing his eyes and thinking about it again until he was asleep. He was curious as to how Antonio could even like him, let alone flirt with him. 

The next morning Gilbert wakes up and rubs his eyes, getting out of bed. He looks at the calendar then sighs. “Tonight's the night.” He whispers to himself and gets out of bed. He needs to talk to Francis about this, about what Antonio told him about it getting worse, but he isn’t sure Antonio will forgive him for leaving Feliciano. 

Feliciano was asleep, not really knowing whether Gilbert was there or not so it didn’t matter all that much to him. He slept alright once he had managed to fall asleep. 

Gilbert writes a note saying that he’s leaving for the day and night, just until he can talk to Francis and check up on Antonio. He sighs softly and goes to his friend’s living place, sitting down beside the tree. “Hey… Toni gave me some bad news.”


	3. Chapter 3

Francis looked up and then at Gilbert. He slid down to sit next to him, shifting and tilting his head. “He did? Is he okay?” Francis was worried. “Does it have to do with the vampire you told me about? Is he hurt? Isn’t tonight the full moon?”

Gilbert shakes his head. “It’s nothing to do with Feliciano. He’s a selfish brat and really stupid, and he seems relatively harmless, but that doesn’t mean I trust him. That’s not important right now. Toni mentioned that his transformations are getting worse and worse. He says they’re more painful and he’s less in control. He’s scared, Francis, I’ve never seen him look like that before. Do you… Do you think it has to do with that myth? The one about wolves severed from their packs? Yeah, tonight is the full moon. That’s why I’m here. I’m scared for him.” 

Francis raised an eyebrow and looked away in thought. “I don’t think it is a myth. Not if it is happening to him. I don’t know for sure, but we have to make sure he makes it through this transformation and then we will fix this. We can figure it out. I know you don’t trust him very much but we might need Feliciano’s help. I don’t know much about vampires but they have magics of some sort. I hate to say that we may need the help of a vampire...but” He sighed. 

Gilbert growls softly. “What do they know about werewolves?” He hisses softly, looking at his lap. “Well… Maybe Feliciano will know something. In the myth it states that the longer the wolf is away from it’s pack the worse and worse it gets. Their transformations get painful and they lose control of themselves as wolves. Many of them end up accidentally killing themselves while they’re wolves. What are we going to do Francis? I can’t let that happen to him. I’d work with the filth if they can stop him from getting hurt.” He runs a hand through his hair and grips it softly. “What if Toni hurts somebody. You know he’ll freak out if that happens. He’s too nice.” He looks back at Francis and sighs softly, leaning on his shoulder. 

Francis sighed and nodded. “I know. I’m scared for him. We should go. We can protect him until he changes back. If they can do something about it then you should let them. But keep a close eye on Feliciano and any other vampire he speaks to. I don’t trust him very much either. But Antonio does. So I will put faith in him for now” 

Gilbert stands up and helps Francis up as well. He huffs softly. “I’ll keep an eye on him, but you’re better at that. You can be anywhere you want, Franny.” He shrugs. “Oh but you can’t leave the forest and I can. We need to get there before nightfall.” He looks at Francis then away again. “Let’s go…” He is honestly more terrified than he’s willing to let on. 

Francis nodded. “Alright. Let’s go then” he followed him. “We will make it by nightfall if we are quick and don’t stop. I just hope we can actually do something to help him” he sighed a bit and ran his fingers through his hair. 

Gilbert pauses. “I’ll get there faster if I transform. I’ll see you there Franny.” He transforms into a bird then flies off toward the place he knows Antonio will be. He perches on the windowsill. Antonio looks up and smiles at the bird, coming over and petting its head softly. 

Francis nodded. He got there as quickly as he could and stayed slightly out of the way, watching Antonio pet the bird, assuming that was Gilbert. He just wanted to observe for a while. He didn’t want to interfere with anything. 

Antonio scoops the bird into his hands and brings it up to his face, looking it over. “Gil…” He murmurs. “You aren’t fooling me.” He laughs softly and sits on the bed with him in his hands, still petting the bird’s head gently. “Did you bring Francis with you? Or are you alone?” He asks softly, laying back and setting Gilbert on his stomach. The shifter transforms back into his human form when Antonio isn’t holding onto him anymore, making the Spaniard grunt when the air is forced from him. 

“I dunno if Francis is here yet.” He responds, huffing. “Your nose is way too strong recently. I used to be able to get you if I turned into an animal. Besides, maybe I like being a bird and being petted by you.” He huffs. Antonio pushes him off and rubs his stomach softly, shrugging. 

“How was Feli?” He asks worriedly, looking up at Gilbert. “Is he happy? You didn’t play any tricks on him, did you? That would be mean. He’s nice.” Antonio looks up at him. Gilbert shrugs and runs a hand through his hair, looking at the wall. 

Francis moved forward and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m here.” he muttered. “I wasn’t going to interfere” he shrugged. “How are you feeling Toni?” he asked, looking at the spaniard then at Gilbert. “Gilbert told me about what you had been experiencing” 

Antonio looks up at Francis and smiles, getting up and hugging him tightly. “I feel terrible.” He whispers. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, I was too alone. I hate being out here. And my last transformation felt like every bone in my body was shattering all at once. It hasn’t felt like that since the first time I’ve ever transformed and usually I have perfect control of my wolf form, but last time I tore apart this place and had to rebuild it. I found seven deer carcasses. Seven. And they weren’t even eaten.” His voice trembles slightly. “I also ripped myself up. I woke up with new scars everywhere and I was so sore I couldn’t move.” He doesn’t know why it’s happening, but he’s terrified. 

Francis smiled at him hugged back tightly. He looked at him and frowned. “I’m so sorry. I don’t really know what to do. Gilbert and I were talking about it. But there is this myth that werewolves lose control of themselves if they are away from their pack for too long” he sighed. “That is the only explanation we can think of. If you can get through this transformation we are going to see if we can fix it.” He explained. 

Antonio’s eyes widen in fright at the thought of the myth. “N-no… It’s only a myth…” His hand comes up to clutch gently at his tattoo as his breathing quickens. Gilbert gently pulls him into a hug, trying to calm him down before he really starts to panic but it doesn’t work. Antonio passes out from hyperventilating too much. Gilbert puts him into the bed. 

“That wasn’t a good reaction.” He whispers, looking to Francis with concern in his eyes. “I don’t know what to do, Franny.” 

Francis gasped and sighed. “Is that vampire still there? He hasn’t left Antonio’s house right? I think one of us should speak with him and see what he knows. I doubt he knows much but he might be able to help and it is important that we help Antonio as soon as possible.”

Gilbert shrugs. “Probably. I’ll go talk to him. He doesn’t trust me, but he’ll trust me more than he’ll trust you.” He sighs. “Besides… Antonio probably wants you more than he wants me.” He says softly and looks at his friend. He runs his fingers through Antonio’s hair gently before turning into a bird and flying back home. Antonio starts to wake up again after a few more minutes and clutches at his pack tattoo again. He looks up at Francis. 

“Please… Please tell me you were joking…” He whimpers, sniffling softly. “I can’t… I can’t go back to my pack, that’s the only way to fix it. I don’t have a pack to go back to…” Antonio wipes away his tears. 

Francis tilted his head and sat next to Antonio. He put an arm around Antonio and sighed. “I wasn’t joking Toni. But we might know a way to fix it. Gilbert is going to look into it. Vampires have powers that none of us know about. And you just so happened to befriend one. Gilbert is going to talk to him about it. He won’t know who I am otherwise I would go and you clearly can’t go right now. So he was the only choice. I think everything will be okay, Toni” he said softly. 

Antonio leans into him, closing his eyes tightly. “Well… I had to befriend him. I didn’t want him to be alone. You did the same for Gil and I, I just couldn’t hurt him by ditching him. He seemed so scared.” He whispers, gripping the bed sheets beneath him. “It hurts already…” He rubs his arms a bit and sighs, nuzzling against Francis. “I hope they can get along long enough to talk about it. Gilbert was ready to kill him when they first met.” 

Francis nodded. “He told me about that. I think it will be okay. He said that he would be willing to work with him as long as it helps you. As long as Feliciano really is trust worthy like you say then it will be okay. I am sure.” he smiled and nodded. “I just hope we can help you. I don’t want you to be hurt” He said softly. 

Feliciano shifted a bit when he heard a slight noise and he sat up, rubbing his eyes. He looked around and spotted a bird in his room. “Huh? How did you get in here?” he asked, yawning and moving to the end of the bed. “Aw, it’s kinda cute” he chuckled a bit and pulled his legs up onto the edge of the bed and smiled, tilting his head. 

The bird flutters over to him and lands on his leg, twittering at him. Gilbert moves off and turns into a human again, smirking at Feliciano. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He whispers playfully. He frowns softly and looks away. “I’m here for a specific reason.” He tells Feliciano. “What do you know about werewolves?” He asks. 

Feliciano looked up at him when he transformed and turned bright red, moving back and shifting. He shrugged. “I don’t really know much. My clan always avoided talking about them and said we weren’t supposed to go near them. Is there something wrong with Antonio? Is he okay?” He asked. 

Gilbert pauses then nods. “Yeah something’s wrong with him. We aren’t sure what yet, but we were hoping there was a vampire power that could fix him. We’re almost certain it has to do with this myth. If a werewolf is too far away from it’s pack for too long, it will start to lose control. Antonio has all the signs warned about in the myth, but his whole pack is gone, there’s nothing we can do. Unless you can help.” He looks Feliciano in the eyes. “You have to help.” He whispers. 

Feliciano shifted a bit. “Well...I don’t have the kind of powers that would really help. I just make stuff out of bones” He paused. “But I do think there is one person who might help. I can’t get close to the clan though. They’ll know. My grandpa can change people’s clans and packs. They made him kick me out. It was the worst feeling ever” he looked down and sighed a bit. “I don’t know if I can talk to him though” 

Gilbert nods. “But we don’t have a pack for Antonio to join. He is part of Francis’ and my family now, and we aren’t technically a pack. Would he be able to just not be part of a pack? As far as I know the pack magic is what helps them keep control. According to the myth. I just don’t want Toni to get hurt. I’m so worried.” He mumbles, looking away. “I can help you get close to your grandfather if necessary.” 

Feliciano nodded. “I think he can just take the pack symbol away. I mean I am not in a clan anymore. I don’t see why they couldn’t do that for a werewolf. How would you get me there? They won’t know your smell but they will know mine and I’m not allowed near the clan anymore” 

Gilbert shrugs. “There’s potions that can change your scent for a short period of time.” Gilbert responds. “We’d just have to get in and talk to your grandfather then get back out again, right?” He asks, looking back to Feliciano. It’s dangerous, he knows it is. It’s very dangerous to sneak into a vampire clan, but he doesn’t feel like he has very many options. “Everytime Antonio turns into a wolf, it’s getting worse.” He runs a hand through his hair. “The myth dictates that the wolf will eventually kill itself. If you care at all about Antonio you’ll do what it takes to save him.” 

Feliciano shifted and nodded. “I’ll see what he can do. If you can help me get in there. I don’t want that to happen to Antonio” he whispered. “But what happens if I get caught?” He whispered. “I mean you wouldn’t have to go. You’d get in a lot more trouble than I would and they’d probably kill you so if you can get me in you should leave. I’ll figure out how to get out” he sighed heavily. “I don’t even know if my nonno would want to see me. But I’ll try” 

Gilbert nods and stands up. “No way in fuck am I letting you go in alone. Antonio would kill me. Literally, he would.” He whispers, running a hand through his hair. He turns to Feliciano again. “I’ll turn into something small and you’ll carry me in. Like a bird or a bug or something.” He huffs then turns back into a bird before landing on Feliciano’s knee. He makes a few small bird sounds before flying to the end of the bed. He looks at Feliciano one more time then flies off to go to Francis and Antonio once more. He knows Antonio will change soon if he hasn’t already. 

Feliciano shifted a bit and huffed a bit. “Oh...Okay” He shifted and looked at the bird, smiling a bit and nodded. He laid back down and shifted a bit, curling up and shifting. He wasn’t sure how Gilbert would get him in but he would go along with whatever to keep Antonio safe.

Gilbert lands on the window sill of Antonio’s cottage, flinching at the screaming coming from inside. He flies up into a tree for safety but watches. Antonio’s wolf form emerges from the cottage, claws ripping into his flesh. He suddenly starts to run, bringing down a deer a few feet away and tearing it apart. 

Francis noticed Gilbert from the place where he was, keeping somewhat away from Antonio. He tried to get Gilbert’s attention so he could speak with him without getting Antonio to notice them. He just desperately hoped that Feliciano knew what they could do to help him. 

Gilbert flutters down to Francis, landing on his shoulder. Antonio tears the pelt from the deer then buries his snout into it, eating some of the carcass before leaving it alone, bringing down a rabbit and killing it a few feet away. He doesn’t eat this one at all, just moves onto tearing up something else. 

Francis made a face as he watched Antonio before looking back at Gilbert. “Did you talk to Feli?” he whispered. “Does he know anything about what to do?” he was trying to be quiet. He didn’t want Antonio to notice them. Especially not like this. Francis wouldn’t be able to hurt him to protect them. 

Gilbert is horrified to see his friend’s actions. When he’s sure that Antonio is far enough away he turns into a human and looks at Francis. “Feliciano has an idea of what to do but he’s not sure it will work.” He says softly. Gilbert flinches when Antonio comes tearing back into the area and sniffs the air. He’s never seen Antonio like this before, usually he can even pet Antonio’s wolf form. 

Francis nodded. “Alright. We need to hurry. What was his idea?” he asked, backing away slightly when Antonio came back and took in a deep breath. “How soon can we do it” he whispered. They needed to do this as soon as they could. He didn’t know how much longer Antonio could handle this. 

Gilbert freezes when Antonio’s gaze flashes to him. He holds his breath, almost tempted to transform and hide, but he can’t leave Francis. The wolf freezes then quivers, clawed hands moving to his own skin and gouging long marks there to stop himself. He dashes away from Gilbert and Francis, not knowing how to control himself. He kills anything that comes across his path. 

Gilbert looks over at Francis. “I’m going to need you to get a potion. That one that can neutralize scents for a little while. We’re going to sneak in to talk to a vampire who can change creatures packs… As soon as you can get the potion, I guess…” Gilbert runs a hand through his hair. He’s terrified after seeing what just happened. Gilbert hears screaming and looks at Francis in horror. 

Francis looked horrified as well and backed up. “Okay. Okay. Stay out of his way. Don’t let him see you again. I’m going to go. I know a warlock. He’ll help. I’ll get a potion from him. Just be careful. Don’t try to stop him unless he is really hurting himself. I don’t want you to get hurt” he backed away for a moment and shifted. He ran towards Arthur’s to get help. 

Gilbert nods in understanding and sighs weakly. He turns into a bird, starting to get a bit sore from switching back and forth so much. He finds Antonio and is sick when he sees his friend muzzle deep in a human. He lands and turns into a human. “Antonio stop…” He whispers. He flinches when Antonio looks up quickly, tossing flecks of gore around. “Antonio please... This isn’t you. You are kind and gentle. You smile a lot. Please.” He backs up when Antonio stalks toward him. Antonio growls deep in his throat and sniffs in Gilbert’s direction. 

Francis explained to Arthur what was going on and got the potion they needed. He tried to rush back to find them and gasped when he saw how close Gilbert was. He moved towards him and pulled him back. “Gil he is too far gone. I got the potion. Take it to Feli. Get Feliciano to do whatever it is he needs to do. We have to stop this as soon as we can” he said in a panicked tone. 

Gilbert stumbles back when Francis pulls him. Antonio leaps forward and smashes into the tree, whimpering slightly in pain before standing up, teeth bared once more. He stalks toward the two once more. Gilbert looks down at the potion then back at Francis. “Okay…” He dashes off, holding the bottle tightly. Antonio was going to chase Gilbert until he noticed Francis is still there, and he starts to stalk toward him instead. 

Francis looked at Gilbert as he ran off then gulped and turned back to Antonio. “Please Antonio. I don’t know if you can hear me. Or what I can do to help you calm down. But It’s me. It’s Francis. You have to get this under control” he whimpered. He slowly began to back away, knowing that running would only lead Antonio to chase him. He took a few deep breaths to focus himself and closed his eyes, deciding he didn’t have much other choice than to get away carefully. He flickered a bit before disappearing completely and reappearing inside Antonio’s cottage. He slid down the wall and took a few deep breaths before standing and looking out the window. 

Antonio’s eyes flicker in recognition and he pauses, staring at Francis before it goes away and he stalks toward the blond again. He grunts when he pounces and there’s nothing there. He howls and takes off into the forest to find another victim. 

Gilbert arrives at Antonio’s house and starts shouting desperately for Feliciano. “I have the potion we have to go now!” He shouts, heading back toward Feliciano’s room. “Fuck… He fucking killed a human Feliciano, a human. He would never do that if he was okay…” He is terrified at the moment. 

Feliciano looked up and stumbled as he rushed out of the room. “He...Okay okay. We’ll go. How fast can you get there? Do you have to follow me? I can run. I mean I can pull you with me but it will be super weird unless you are used to moving fast. Should I take it now? Before we get close?” he asked. He was kind of terrified and wasn’t sure what to do.

Gilbert shakes his head. “Not now. Just before we enter the territory. We have very little time before it wears off. Do you have pockets? I’ll just sit in your pocket as a little birdy…” He gives the potion to Feliciano and turns into his bird form. He flutters in mid air, mistrusting Feliciano still, but not having much a choice. 

Feliciano nodded. “Alright.” he looked at his pants. “I guess that will work.” he put the potion in one pocket, opening the other in order for Gilbert to get in. He sighed a bit and shifted, wanting to be careful once Gilbert was in it. Once he was he got as close to his clan as he could so they still wouldn’t smell him. He opened his pocket again. “I still don’t think you should come in with me. They’ll be upset smelling something they think doesn’t exist anymore” 

Gilbert peeps at him from within Feliciano’s pocket. He can’t move and he can’t speak properly in this form. He struggles about a bit within the confines of the fabric but he can’t actually move. He peeps more aggressively, wanting out so he can shift into human and talk to Feliciano about this. 

Feliciano’s eyes went a bit wide. “Oh oh sorry you can't get out.” he whispered he gently reached his hand in to pull Gilbert out, laying his hand out flat with the bird in it so he could get off on his own to switch back. “I’m sorry. I'm just scared. I’ve never even considered anything like this. I get pretty clumsy and even more stupid when I’m scared.” 

Gilbert stands up in his hand, indignantly shaking his wings out then fluttering up and turning back into a human. He gives a dirty look to Feliciano but it quickly softens. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to go in there alone. I want to be able to be there if something happens…” He whispers and huffs. “This is for Antonio. He’s my brother. I can’t… You can’t screw this up. I’ll be here. Right here.” He points at a tree. “Make it quick. You only get this one shot.” He leans against the tree and watches Feliciano carefully.


	4. Chapter 4

Feliciano looked down and pulled the potion out of his pocket. “Si okay.” He took a deep breath before drinking the potion and rushing inside. He found his grandfather’s house and went into it quickly. He went up to Romulus’ room and panted as he looked up at his grandfather. “Nonno I need your help please. I’ll explain in a moment but I can’t be here for long. I need your help. Please” He whimpered. 

Gilbert watches him go then turns into a cat, jumping up into the tree. Being a bird was putting a bit of a strain on his body. He curls up and waits. Romulus looks up when he hears someone coming, nose crinkling in displeasure at the odd smell. He smiles brightly at Feliciano when he sees him, hugging him tightly. “Feli… You smell funny… What can I do for you?” He asks, heart hurting to see his grandson. 

Feliciano hugged back tightly. “Just...this potion doesn’t last very long. We have to get out of the clan for a moment. But I need your help with someone. Someone came and took me in after I had to leave and he is in danger.” he whispered. “Your power could save him” He whispered. “Please nonno just come with me. I’ll explain better once we are out. I promise” he wanted to cry just seeing Romulus. But he knew he needed to stay focused. 

Romulus is confused. He looks at Feliciano then nods a bit. “Okay… Okay… I guess we’d better go then.” He says and gently leads him out of the room then the territory. He freezes up when he smells Gilbert’s scent on Feliciano. “You smell like a shapeshifter…” He whispers, holding Feliciano at arms length. “Are you really Feliciano?” He asks weakly, worried. “I thought all shapeshifters were dead.” 

Feliciano nodded and followed him out. He paused when he noticed Romulus seemed suspicious. “Nonno I swear to you I am Feliciano. I’ve been around one though. They aren’t dead. He’s helping me. He’s friends with the person who took me in. I promise you nonno it’s going to be okay. Wait how did you know that smell? They didn’t teach it to us?” he pouted. He continued to move back to the tree where Gilbert was.

Romulus follows Feliciano still. “I am a very old vampire, and I’ve told you in the past that I’ve done very bad things. We all have.” He runs a hand through his hair and follows Feliciano. He isn’t proud of the fact that he helped with the mass genocide of shapeshifters. “I… I thought they were all dead.” He notices the smell getting stronger. Gilbert leaps onto Feliciano’s head, climbing down to his shoulders. He glares at Romulus, hissing softly. 

Feliciano nodded. “Oh okay.” he looked at Gilbert and smiled brightly. “You’re a cute cat too?” he huffed. “No fair.” He stuck his tongue out for a moment. “This is my nonno, Gilbert. He’s gonna help us.” he looked at Romulus again and sighed a bit. “Okay so I never really told you what species it was that saved me. You have to promise you won’t get mad no matter what” he looked at Romulus and crossed his arms. “Because I don’t think you are going to like it” 

Gilbert leans against Feliciano’s head slightly to keep his balance, making a soft meowing sound at him. He jumps down and turns into a human again. “He’s the one that killed my fucking family!” He snaps at Feliciano and points at Romulus. Romulus flinches slightly and looks away, huffing. 

“What’s going on, Feli? What do you need me to do?” He asks, completely ignoring Gilbert and his yelling. Gilbert huffs softly and glares at him while he speaks. Romulus watches his grandson. “I don’t have much time. They’re going to be looking for me.” 

Feliciano looked at Romulus for a moment. He looked at Gilbert and bit his lip. “Oh…” he sighed. “Look. A clan of vampires, not ou...yours, killed almost an entire pack of werewolves. All but one. And he is getting worse and worse because he isn’t around the rest of his pack. You can change pack symbols and stuff. So...I need you to change his. He’s a wolf right now though” he whispered. “So I don’t know if you can right now.” he looked at Gilbert. “I’m sorry. I had no idea. But we don’t have any other options to protect Antonio. I’m not even supposed to see him so if you can please just leave it alone so he can fix Toni.” He looked at Romulus again. “Please” 

Gilbert glares at Romulus and then turns into a bird. He flutters forward and lands on Feliciano’s shoulder again, peeping into his ear. He needs Feliciano to run them down again. He’s sure that the night is almost over, and that Antonio will be changing back soon. Romulus growls softly at the mention of it being a werewolf, but he looks at Feliciano and nods a bit. “Fine.... I’ll help…” He growls quietly. “But only because you’re asking. No, I can’t change his pack with him being a wolf, he has to be a human. Where is he, anyway? Does the shifter know?” He asks. 

Feliciano looked at Gilbert then back at Romulus. He nodded and sighed a bit. “He knows. I know. He told me where to go. Just in case. He seemed really worried about it” He sighed. “Do you need to go back in my pocket?” He asked, looking at Gilbert. “We have to hurry then because you and I will have to be in shelter when the sun comes up.” He said, looking back at Gilbert. “Thank you so much, nonno” He whispered.

Gilbert peeps in his ear and settles down against Feliciano, waiting to be put in his pocket. Romulus nods. “The wolf has a shelter, yes? They are not total barbarians. We’ll wait until he turns back, usually they have to wait for the sun to come up to turn back. Is he dangerous?” He asks. “I’m not sure I want to be around something dangerous. Why do you care so much about this wolf anyway?” He asks. 

Feliciano gently put Gilbert back in his pocket. “I think he does. No they are not. He is so sweet and kind and he is nothing like they taught. I thought he was gonna kill me and he didn’t. I was hiding in a tree and he found me and wrapped me in blankets and set up a whole room where I could sleep without worrying about the sun. Honestly he’s been better for me than the clan has” he huffed. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “He’s probably a little dangerous in his wolf form. But he’s the sweetest person I’ve ever met when he’s in the human form”

Romulus nods and stands a little straighter. “Let’s get going.” He follows Feliciano. Antonio smells them coming and finds them, growling. His fur stands on end in reaction to being faced with two vampires. He looks up at Feliciano and snaps his jaws, pouncing at him. 

Feliciano nodded and led him to the place Antonio told him about. He gasped when he saw Antonio and stumbled back. “Get into the shelter!” He called, backing away. “Antonio stop this! I don’t know you nearly as well as Francis and Gilbert but dammit you’re hurting yourself!” he said shakily, whimpering softly. “My grandpa’s gonna fix you. He’s gonna help you”

Antonio is too far gone. He lunges at Feliciano again, skidding through the mud when he misses and lands. Gilbert peeps, indignant at being jerked around and squished in Feliciano’s pocket. He wants to help talk to Antonio. Romulus goes into the shelter and tilts his head at the sight of the nymph. “And you are?” Romulus asks. “Do you know the wolf?” 

Feliciano looked down at his pocket. He carefully pulled Gilbert out again and opened his hand for him to transform back into a human. He wasn’t really sure what to do. He knew they would probably be best if they could get into the shelter. But he didn’t know if he could make it into the shelter without Antonio breaking down the door or something like that. 

Francis looked up at Romulus and raised an eyebrow. “I’m the one who raised Antonio. Who are you?” he growled. He didn’t really have the same scent abilities as everyone else. But he could still tell creatures apart and this was definitely a vampire. “Are you the one Gilbert said Feliciano knew?” He asked. 

Gilbert shifts into a human. “Go. Get in the shack. I will deal with Antonio. If he scratches me, it won’t hurt me.” He turns into a wolf and meets Antonio mid pounce next time, stopping him from hitting Feliciano. Romulus looks at Francis and rolls his eyes. 

“Other creatures are stupid. Yes. I am sure I am. I raised Feliciano. His mother was killed by werewolves when he was young and I raised him and his brothers.” He looks out the window and watches the wolves rolling in the mud. Antonio yelps in pain when Gilbert puts pressure on one of the scratches. 

Feliciano looked at Gilbert and nodded. He backed up before dashing into the shelter. He slid down and trembled slightly. “That was probably one of the most terrifying things I have ever done” he whispered. He could have died with one scratch. But he didn’t actually care all that much. That was what was so terrifying. 

“I could say the same to you” he growled about the other creatures part. “Well Gilbert’s family and Antonio’s entire pack was killed by vampires. I…” He huffed “How long until the sun comes up? Will you be safe in here? We can close the window” 

Romulus closes the window and pins a blanket up over it. “It should be fairly soon.” He says softly. “I can feel it.” He hugs Feliciano close to him, rubbing his back. “It’s okay, Feli, you’re safe now. I won’t let that… Wolf… Hurt you.” He says softly and hugs him tighter. He loves his grandson deeply, and he had been torn away. “Now, there’s something very important I have to ask. What am I going to make his pack be? If he reacts this badly to being away from his pack, I can’t see having no pack working for him.” He says stiffly. There’s a shriek of pain from outside the shack and the wall rattles with the force of something hitting it. 

Feliciano leaned into Romulus but made a face when he addressed Antonio like that. He sighed heavily. “I was thinking having no pack. There really isn’t anything else you can do? No other pack would take him in would they? I don’t really care if he has to be away from me. I just want him to be safe. Whatever works best” he whispered. He flinched when he heard the shriek and felt the shack shaking. He buried his face in his grandfather and whimpered softly before pushing away from his chest. “What was that? Is Gilbert okay? Was that Antonio?” he asked in a panic. 

Romulus shrugs. “You could be his pack. It doesn’t have to be wolves, I can make a pack or coven out of any supernatural creatures. As long as they are willing.” The slam on the side of the shack makes him flinch. He looks over at the wall and shrugs. “I do not know. You could always check.” He offers to Feliciano. “The sun is not up yet.” 

Gilbert lays crumpled at the base of the wall. He tries to sit up and whimpers, flopping back down. Antonio steps heavily on him, leaning down and sniffing him softly. He sinks his teeth into Gilbert’s shoulder, letting go at the scream of pain. He backs up with sudden realization at who he was attacking, tail pulling between his legs. He whines. 

Feliciano nodded shakily. “We could always try to ask him. I don’t really know how all of this works. Once he turns back to human that is” he stood slowly and pulled the window back open. He gasped at what he saw and slid back down. “He attacked Gilbert. He stopped suddenly. He’s standing there. But...The sun just...it needs to come up soon” he whispered. 

Gilbert can’t get up. He whimpers in pain and turns back into a human, holding his shoulder tightly. “Francis…” He coughs and blood comes out. “Francis please I need help… I thought I could hold him off, he’s too strong.” He coughs again. Antonio whines again, coming over again to nudge Gilbert and make sure he’s okay. He backs up when Gilbert smacks his muzzle, ducking his head and curling up feet away, blood oozing from his own wounds. He looks up at the lightening sky then screams in pain as he turns back into a human. He lays in the dirt, naked and bleeding badly from several wounds. He goes unconscious almost immediately. 

Francis stood up and ran out, making sure to close the door so that vampires wouldn’t be caught in the sunlight. He kneeled next to Gilbert and pulled him up slightly, looking over his wounds. “Okay. Shh. It’s okay. He’s turning back now. It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay” He assured. “We need to get both of you inside.” he whispered. He lifted Gilbert up slowly and faded back into the shack before going back and doing the same with Antonio. He panted, tired from doing it twice then sat down. “I’m not sure what to do. Can either of you do anything?” he looked at the vampires, scared and desperate. 

Feliciano moved towards Gilbert. “Neither of us have any healing powers. But we should wrap it. You can’t lose too much blood, you’ll die.” He looked back at Romulus then at Gilbert again. He thought for a moment before just taking off his shirt. He held it out for Francis. He had a sudden moment of realization. He was used to this smell. This blood didn’t get to him. He wasn’t bothered by it because he hadn’t drank from a human almost his entire life. He looked at Romulus. “Are you okay? Nonno you can’t hurt them they are all I have right now.” He whispered. 

Romulus makes a face at Feliciano. “I couldn’t ever like the smell of their filthy blood.” He responds, watching their movements. “Their blood would be bitter. Why on earth would I want to drink it?” He feels irritated that he’s trapped in small confines with their blood surrounding him, though. “The wolf’s skin should heal itself pretty quickly. That’s what werewolves do best, though it’s irritating. Shifters do not work the same way and you need to make sure that the bleeding is stopped, otherwise we’ll need to get serious medical help.” He removes his own jacket and hands it over to be used to stop the bleeding. 

Gilbert whimpers softly. He looks up at Feliciano and then closes his eyes tightly. He’s terrified that he’s going to die. He tried to keep Antonio away from him enough, but it wasn’t easy. Blood continues to gush from the wound but it’s starting to slow down. He closes his eyes and lets his head lean back, tears welling into his eyes. “Feliciano, go make sure Antonio is okay. He was bleeding a lot. Quick healing doesn’t matter if you bleed out first. Francis can help me.” 

Feliciano glared at Romulus and huffed. “For god’s sake nonno can’t you at least act like you can get along with any other species?” He huffed. He moved over to Antonio and started to do what he could for those wounds too. “You have a whole clan to go back to. These are the only people who have shown me any sliver of kindness. I got kicked out of the clan and I was nearly killed by so many things. But Antonio saved me. So at least pretend you don’t mind being here.” He muttered. 

Francis worked as best as he could with Gilbert’s wound, not wanting him to be in too much pain or pass out. He didn’t think he would be able to handle himself alone with two vampires if he was being completely honest. 

Romulus frowns at Feliciano. “I’m not going to hurt them. Jesus Christ, Feliciano, if I really couldn’t get along with other species I would let this wolf tear itself apart but I’m not. I’m here to fix his pack symbol so that you can be around him.” He hisses in return, eyes flashing in anger. He sits down in the corner of the room and watches them patch up the two. Antonio is already healing, but he’s still very weak. He opens his eyes slowly and looks up at Feliciano. 

“Feli… Why are you here?” He asks softly. “Is everything okay? I didn’t expect to see you. Where’s Gilbert and Francis?” Antonio goes stiff slightly. “Is there another vampire here?” He asks, voice wary. “Are we safe?” 

Feliciano pouted. He mumbled under his breath and sighed, not wanting to push it. He looked down when Antonio began to speak. “Toni? You’re okay. They’re right here. I got my nonno to come here. He is going to help you. He can change your pack symbol and fix this. So you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else. We just have to figure out what pack you would be in” he whispered. 

Antonio looks up at Feliciano then closes his eyes tightly, tears pouring out of them. “But…” He whimpers, hand weakly going to his tattoo. “But I can’t lose this. I need it to be there… It’s all I have left…” He is shaking and trembling. “I don’t want to be part of another pack. This is my family now.” He gestures to Feliciano, Francis, and Gilbert. “Don’t make me change that…”

Feliciano shook his head. “You don’t have to change that. Nonno said that your pack doesn’t have to be the same species as you. We can be your pack Antonio” he whispered. “But you’ll die otherwise. You’ll kill yourself. Please Toni. I don’t want you to kill yourself. I want you to be okay. You can be okay. You can have us” he looked at the other two. Normally he wouldn’t have mentioned himself. But Antonio had gestured to him as well. So he didn’t want to exclude himself. 

“I don’t want to kill myself.” He whimpers. “My… Our pack symbol has to be this one… But when you join a pack, your symbol changes. It’s extremely painful. You’ll all get one...” Antonio whispers. “So you’ll all be joining my pack then? We… You don’t need a vampire’s powers to do that, you could just do the ritual… But I’m sure his powers will make it faster.” Antonio feels drained. He closes his eyes and passes out again. 

Feliciano nodded. He sighed and shifted when he fell asleep again. He looked down at the other two. “Is that okay? Can we do that?” he asked. He looked up at Romulus. “Can you do that?” He sighed and looked back at Antonio. “Is it going to hurt?” he asked. “Even if you do it?” He was a bit worried if he was being honest. He wasn’t big on pain. But he would do it for Antonio. 

Francis nodded. “I think we can. I didn’t even think about that. He was right. But I don’t know if you doing it will make it less painful or faster. Or really anything” he shrugged, looking at Romulus. 

“It will make it faster. I don’t have to do a ritual to make you part of his pack, I just have to brand you with the unique signature that belongs to him.” Romulus responds, running a hand through his hair in irritation. “I have a question. What are you two.” He points at Francis and Feliciano. “Going to do when they die? They’re not immortal. They can’t be. You can’t change people, and Feliciano trying to turn Antonio and Gilbert could kill them.” Romulus stands up. “Feliciano, are you going to go first? It’s going to be painful, much more so than when I ripped away your coven status.” 

Feliciano pouted and looked at Antonio. “I...didn’t think about that” he whispered. He sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Francis. He looked back up at Romulus and nodded. “I’ll go first. It’s fine. As long as it helps Antonio.” he whispered. He didn’t want to acknowledge the other part of that. He remembered how much that hurt but he didn’t care right now. 

Francis huffed. “I can’t change them” he muttered. “I can make worthy humans into nymphs though” he retorted before sighing. “I don’t know what we’ll do. But I’m going to make sure Feliciano is taken care of. He’s sweet. I mean he was super hard to trust at first. But he risked his life twice just to make sure Antonio would be okay. He can’t be that bad. He doesn’t deserve to be alone. So I’ll take care of them. I’ve lost others. So I can help him through it” he stated. 

Romulus’ eyebrows go up. “I wasn’t aware. Thank you for this valuable information on nymphs.” He responds, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He turns to Feliciano and comes forward, looking him in the eyes. “Where do you want the mark. It’s like getting a tattoo, it’s permanent unless you get me to take it off again, though it’s terribly painful as well. I have heard that if you do it right, a werewolf can be made into a vampire, but it’s very dangerous. I don’t recommend it.” He warns Feliciano. 

Francis made a face before shrugging. He didn’t really think it was that valuable but it didn’t matter. He looked back at him when he mentioned changing a wolf into a vampire and made another face. “I don’t think that’s a good idea anyway. It’s not right to mess with the balance of nature like that” 

Feliciano looked at his grandfather and moved closer to him. He nodded slightly. “It’s not important where it goes right?” he asked. He thought for a moment. “On my back. The side of my back.” he pointed to where he was talking about, his lower back on the edge. He’d always liked the idea of having a marking there. He paused at the mention of turning Antonio into a vampire. “Well...if it’s dangerous...we should let Antonio decide if we even attempt anything like that” he muttered. He looked up at Romulus. “Okay. I think I’m ready” he whispered. 

Romulus nods. He sets his hand on Antonio’s pack symbol and copies its signature before turning Feliciano around. He puts his hand on Feliciano’s back and whispers a spell. The tattoo prints itself on Feliciano’s back and rewrites his pack status. It tears through the nerves in his body to do so. Romulus slowly lowers Feliciano to the ground and lets the spell fully take effect. He doesn’t like to hear the pained sounds of his grandson and turns to Francis. “Are you next?” He asks. 

Feliciano bit down harshly on his lip to stop himself from screaming. He whimpered loudly and squeezed his hands into fists. He just had to remember that this was for Antonio. He had somewhere to stay and he wasn’t dead or worse because of Antonio. This was the least he could do for him. Tears built up in his eyes but he was still careful. 

Francis watched Feliciano and bit his lip. He nodded. “Yeah. I’ll go next” he moved towards Romulus. Gilbert still needed to rest. He took of his shirt and paused. “Just put it on my chest somewhere I don’t really care. I just want to get it over with” he muttered. 

Romulus nods and sets his hand on his chest, saying the spell softly. He lowers Francis to the ground as well. He glances at Gilbert then backs away. He can’t do the spell with Gilbert this weak, he needs a few hours to heal and get better. Antonio fidgets in his sleep and lets out a whimper of pain. 

Francis winced and kneeled down, panting in pain and forcing himself to relax. He couldn’t let it show that he was in this much pain. He was fine. He looked at Romulus then at Gilbert and winced again. He assumed Romulus couldn’t do it to Gilbert with him being this weak. 

Feliciano looked up after the pain faded and looked up at Romulus. “Did it work?” he asked, turning as much as he could to try and look at his back. He just hoped this was going to help Antonio. 

Romulus nods at Feliciano. “It did, in fact, work. You have a mark on your back and your signature reads as his does.” He responds, sighing softly. “I hate this. I hate that you’re doing this.” He whispers and looks down. “I hate that you’re hanging around with this creatures. You were supposed to be a vampire. You were supposed to be part of the coven. But then you wouldn’t hurt anything and they kicked you out.” 

Feliciano looked up at his grandfather and sighed. “Well. I’m not sure what to say nonno. I don’t want to be part of something that cares that much about me not wanting to hurt humans. I think it’s ridiculous. And I don’t care who I hang out with as long as they are kind to me. I don’t understand why it is such a big deal that werewolves and vampires hate each other. I’ve never understood” 

Romulus looks down at him then away again. “You are ignorant.” He growls softly. “For fucks sake, Feliciano, it’s not about you not wanting to hurt humans. It wasn’t just that. And our rivalry with werewolves started before you were born, but you never really paid much attention in classes. We have our reasons, and you would know if you paid attention.” He is frustrated with his grandson. Antonio starts to wake up from Romulus’ yelling. He turns his bleary gaze to Feliciano. 

“It was the werewolves fault the rivalry started.” Antonio whispers. “But honestly, the reason it continued it was the vampires. We’ve done our best over the years to fix things but it never happens.” He mutters and glares at Romulus. 

Feliciano looked at Romulus and huffed. “What happened before I was born isn’t important to me! Why should I pay attention to the ideals of a clan that has never liked me? It doesn’t matter what I did or how hard I tried. They found every excuse to be upset with me. You don’t even actually know because I never told you. Because I thought it was normal to be treated like shit, nonno. I thought that was just the way things worked. But it’s not. I don’t have to live like that. It’s not like I wanted to be thrown out. I could have died. Nobody did anything to stop it. So what’s the point?” He huffed. He looked at Antonio and sighed. “I’m sorry. You should keep resting.” he whispered. He was upset with his grandfather. It wasn’t like he got to say what Feliciano did anymore. He wasn’t a part of the clan. In fact if Feliciano hadn’t gone in he could be dead and Romulus wouldn’t even know let alone care. He didn’t have any right to tell him who he could hang out with. Antonio had been more kind to him than anyone ever had in the clan. 

Romulus bristles but then he takes a deep breath and steps away. “Fine. I’ll say what you want me to then. For all I care, you could have been killed.” He mutters, going over to the corner. He wants to leave, he wants to go back to his clan and forget about helping Feliciano and this wolf. He takes a deep breath to calm himself down and then glares at the wolf on the bed. Antonio looks up at Feliciano and grabs his hand softly, sitting up slowly. 

“I’m fine now. My wounds are healing, I’m gonna be tired for a week no matter how much I sleep.” Antonio runs a hand through his hair and looks up at Romulus. “Thank you for giving them my pack marks. I have extra blankets if you would like to go home now. I can do the ritual on Gilbert later, if he wants to. I don’t want him doing that until he’s strong, though.” He looks over at Gilbert and tears well into his eyes. “This is all my fault…” 

Feliciano’s shoulders rose and he looked away from Romulus for a moment before tears started to pool out of his eyes. He wanted to retort. To make some remark. It even came to mind to say something about his mother. She wouldn’t have cared. She would love him no matter who he wanted to be around. “You should just go. Your precious clan is probably worried” He whimpered before looking at Antonio. “It’s not your fault” He whispered. “There’s no way that this is your fault. It’s the fault of whatever vampires killed your family. They are the reason you were getting so bad. It’s not your fault” he assured. 

Romulus growls at Feliciano. Antonio stands up and pulls out the blankets he has, handing them to Romulus. Romulus wraps himself in them and makes the perilous trek back to his clan. Antonio looks at Feliciano and grabs his hand softly. “He didn’t mean it.” He whispers softly, kissing his cheek lightly. “He wouldn’t have been here if you didn’t ask. Thank you. Thank you for saving my life.”


	5. Chapter 5

Feliciano sniffled and watched him go. He wiped his eyes and looked down at Antonio again. “I...It really wasn’t me. It was their idea and I just did what they asked. I just didn’t want you to get hurt or die. You’ve been nothing but nice to me even though I really don’t deserve it. So...thank you” he chuckled sadly and smiled weakly at him. 

Antonio shakes his head a bit. “Francis and Gilbert saved my life too, but don’t put yourself down. It took a lot of guts to go back. Thank you.” He whispers and smiles brightly at him. “But it is my fault… I asked Gilbert to come up here to watch me… I bit him… I hurt him so badly, he might die Feli.” He whispers and looks over at the shifter on the bed. “I can’t… I wouldn’t…” Tears well into his eyes. 

Francis but in for a moment and huffed. “Stop blaming yourself Antonio. Gilbert is going to be okay. I promise. You can’t control yourself. He would have come anyway and you know it. It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay now” 

Feliciano looked at Francis then at Antonio. “Can I ask you a question Antonio? Or do you want to rest more? I don’t want to be the reason you stay up or feel more tired” 

Antonio looks at Gilbert then back at Francis. “I don’t count that shit as okay, Franny. I almost ripped his arm off. And can I have some clothes before we talk too much more?” He asks softly, suddenly realizing his state of undress. “Of course, I’ll answer any questions you have, Feli.” He gives an easy smile. He gets his spare clothes from the cabinet, but trying to pull them on makes him wince badly. “And I can usually control myself. I don’t even remember everything I did while I was a wolf.” 

Feliciano blushed when he too noticed Antonio’s lack of clothes. “Well as long as everyone survives this now it won’t matter because we’re your pack now. So you’ll be able to control yourself. Right?” he sighed. “I just...do you remember anything before you came here? Like when you came back to the house” He asked. 

Antonio shrugs and groans softly. “I don’t know. My pack had at least a hundred wolves in it, I’ve never had less than that. Well I mean, other than by myself. So I’m not sure if three is enough to balance it. We’ll find out, since the next full moon is only a month away.” He listens to Feliciano’s question and turns to him. “I didn’t go back. I woke you up while it was still daylight. I don’t leave once I come up here, until it’s time for me to go back.” Antonio runs a hand through his hair. 

Feliciano’s eyes widened slightly and he bit his lip, turning bright red. “Y-You...didn’t come back? You didn’t forget anything and then come back and...you...you” he had nearly forgotten that Gilbert could shapeshift. But at the time...Gilbert didn’t like Feliciano? So why..?

Antonio shakes his head and shrugs. “Were you dreaming? It could’ve been Gil. He likes to play tricks on people.” He chuckles a bit. “What was said anyway?” He asks, lowering himself into a chair slowly. His whole body is still pretty sore at the moment. 

“I don’t know...You...said I was...nothing never mind it’s not important” He sighed. “It was probably a dream. It could have been Gil. You smelled funny. I didn’t know his scent at all or anything. But he didn’t trust me. So...I don’t think he would have said…”

Antonio tilts his head to the side. “Said what?” He asks in confusion. “Well, he could’ve said anything if he wanted you to think it was me.” He glances over at his friend. Gilbert is still sleeping, but the noise is disturbing him and starting to wake him up. Antonio looks back up at Feliciano and smiles brightly at him, eyes glittering. 

Feliciano sighed. “You said that I looked amazing and that I looked good in the moonlight and that I should not let myself get hurt. Honestly. Even if it was a dream or Gilbert, you’ve still been the only person to really care about me and I’m just really thankful for that” he whispered, face bright red. 

Antonio blushes darkly. “We-well… I do think you look amazing, and you are very pretty in the moonlight.” He responds, looking away a bit. “I… I do care about you. And you really care about me. Thank you. It’s nice to have a family.” He whispers and smiles at him. “Shouldn’t you be asleep? I don’t want you to feel like you have to stay up with me.” 

Feliciano turned bright red and buried his face in his hands. He shifted uncomfortably before shrugging. “I’m supposed to be. But I was too worried about you to sleep” he whispered. “If you’re sure you’re okay. I can probably sleep for a little” he whispered. 

Antonio nods. “I’m okay. Just sore. And a little scraped.” He responds. He turns to Francis. “What else did I do while I was a wolf? I don’t really remember a lot of it, did I do a lot of bad things?” He asks worriedly. 

Feliciano nodded. He laid down and curled up, falling asleep rather quickly. Francis looked up at him and sighed a bit. “You did a few pretty shocking things. I don’t know everything that you did. But...Antonio you attacked a human” he whispered. 

Antonio sits a little straighter, face going pale white. “N-no…” He stands up and goes out into the forest to look for the human. He finds the deer then keeps moving to look for the body. He collapses to his knees next to it and sobs into his hands. He can’t believe himself. He doesn’t know this person, but he knows they probably didn’t deserve to die. He wonders if it would have been better for his wolf self to end them both. All he does is cause the others misery, he can’t get himself under control. 

Francis sighed. He wasn’t sure if he should go after Antonio or stay with Gilbert and Feliciano. Well Feliciano wasn’t sick or anything. He should be fine and wake if anything happened. He faded out of the shack and close to Antonio. “It’s the first time we had ever seen it” he whispered. “But if this works. If us becoming your pack works it won’t ever happen again” he assured. 

Antonio looks up at Francis and tilts his head a bit. He looks down, tears pouring down his cheeks and dripping off his chin. “Yeah… But I still did it Francis. That is in my stomach. I feel so sick…” He whimpers, sniffling. “I need to make a grave. It’s not fair to let the wild life eat him.” He whispers and stands up. “I don’t have a shovel here… I’ll have to get one from my house. I…” He can’t look at the body. 

Francis sighed. “I’m sorry Antonio. I wish I could have stopped you” he ran his fingers through his hair. “I could go get one if you want. It will only take a few moments since I can just fade in and out through nature” He whispered. 

Antonio nods a bit. “Yes please.” He says softly and looks at him. He notices the mark on Francis’ chest and feels kinda happy to have a pack again. He rubs the mark on his stomach softly and looks down at the ground again. He picks out a place and starts to make a headstone. 

Francis nodded and smiled. He faded away then came back a few minutes later holding the shovel in his hand. “Here you go” he offered. He watched him for a moment “is there anything I can do to help you” he asked. 

Antonio shrugs a bit. “You could finish the headstone?” He starts to dig, wincing softly. By the time he gets halfway through the grave when he collapses from exhaustion and pain. He’s shaking softly. Antonio feels nauseous and he gags, pulling himself out of the grave and vomiting nearby. 

Francis sighed. “Why don’t we do this later Antonio” he whispered. “When you are a little stronger?” he kneeled next to him and rubbed his back slowly. “You’re pushing yourself too hard for someone who just went through all that” 

Antonio finishes puking up the contents of his stomach, sickened by the sight of it. He looks away and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He wobbles back to the grave. “I need to finish this… Is this deep enough?” He asks, looking down into the grave. “I think it is.” He goes over and grabs the human’s leg. 

Francis sighed gently. He nodded. “Okay. I think it’s deep enough. Let’s just finish this then. You need to rest up” He finished with the gravestone like Antonio had asked him to and waited for him with a small sigh. 

Antonio buries the body and puts the gravestone on it. He goes back to the shack without another word, shaking softly as he does so. He curls up on the ground, going to sleep almost immediately. 

Francis followed him back and sighed. He sat down and ran his fingers through his hair, not really tired. He decided he would just watch the three of them for anything that might happen. He looked around then back at them and smiled. 

Gilbert wakes up a while later and looks at Francis. He runs his hand through his hair with his good arm. “Hey Franny? Is Antonio okay?” He asks softly. “What all happened?” He asks, tilting his head to the side. He sees Antonio on the ground and sighs softly. “And where is Romulus?” 

Francis sighed. “He found out he killed a human and got really sick. We buried the body and he passed out once we got back” he whispered. “Romulus and Feliciano got into a fight. He left. Antonio said he will perform the ritual for you once you are better” 

Gilbert sighs softly and rubs his shoulder a bit with a wince. “Okay. You and Feliciano got your pack marks, right?” He asks. “I should be fine in a little while. Is Feliciano okay? I hate Romulus, I was hoping to tear him apart when I woke up.” He growls softly and runs a hand through his hair in irritation. “He’s the one, Franny. He’s the one.” 

Francis nodded. “Yeah. We have them. I think he is okay. He’s asleep. He talked to Antonio about something. Did you play some prank on him earlier?” he asked. He paused when Gilbert said the next part. “He’s the one? What do you mean by that?” 

“Oh yeah I did. It was funny, he was very doe eyed about it. It’s not like Toni would have flirted with him otherwise.” Gilbert waves it off. “Romulus fucking killed my family. He was there I remember his ugly face. I wanted to rip him apart, but Toni needed his help.” He huffed. Gilbert touches his shoulder softly. “Fuck it fucking hurts. Can’t you heal shit?” He asks, turning a wide eyed gaze to Francis. 

Francis pouted. “Feliciano sure seemed embarrassed.” he chuckled. His smile dropped almost immediately. “He did it? Well now I have even more reason to dislike him.” he growled. “I won’t do anything and I won’t let you either.”

Gilbert nods a bit. “I kinda figured.” He mutters and closes his eyes tightly. “He seems like an asshole anyway. Poor Feli. Y’know, I kinda feel bad for him.” He opens his eyes again and looks at Francis. “I have no reason to dislike him other than that he’s a vampire. He’s a nice kid and he helped save Toni. I think I like him actually.” He hums softly. “Toni seems to really be taken with him.” 

Francis chuckled. “Did I just hear you say you liked a vampire?” he teased. “I’m glad you like him though because he is technically part of our family now. He’s definitely nothing like any vampire I ever met. Do you know what he fought with his grandfather about?” He asked. “His grandfather was going on about how he didn’t approve of who Feliciano had chosen to hang out with. How he hated that he was forming a pack with a werewolf. Turns out the kid was hated by pretty much the whole clan and even his Grandfather said he could be dead for all he cared. But Feliciano was so adamant about saying we weren’t bad and that we were the only ones who protected him and actually cared about him.” he chuckled. “Which I think is funny since I’ve barely spoken to him and you two didn’t get along well up until a few moments ago” he shrugged.

Gilbert rolls his eyes. “No I said I liked Feliciano. The vampire part means nothing to me. He’s an honorary werewolf.” He responds and leans against the wall. “That’s horrible. God the poor guy…” He closes his eyes. “Can’t you get something from Arthur for this? It fucking hurts Franny…” He’s decided to keep complaining about it until Francis decides to do something. 

Francis chuckled and nodded. He looked at Feliciano then back at Gilbert. “Sure. I’ll be right back. Just don’t move too much” he shrugged before fading away. He argued with Arthur about how the Brit hated that he did that before getting the medicine for Gilbert and returning. He held the potion out for him. “Arthur said that it should heal pretty fast if you drink this” He explained. 

Gilbert sits still. He drinks it, gagging on the horrible taste and nodding at Francis. “Thank you, Franny.” He stands up slowly and runs a hand through his hair. “Toni’s alright, right? I… I feel bad I might’ve hurt him last night.” 

Francis nodded. “I think he is okay. As far as I know he is fine from last night. It’s finding out he killed a human that made him this sick” he explained. He looked towards the window. He stood and opened it carefully to check the time with the sun. “I think it’s setting soon. Feli will probably wake up soon” he shrugged. “I don’t know about Antonio. His sleeping schedule will probably be off for a while” 

Gilbert nods at him. “I’m glad that he’s fine other than that. I think Toni beats himself up too much. We need to take him home, tonight, though so he can rest in his own bed.” He whispers, looking over at his friend. “I can’t wait to go home, I just want to sleep for the rest of my life.” He groans softly. 

Francis nodded. “Yeah. We’ll make sure he get’s home tonight.” He looked over at the two then back at Gilbert. He laughed quietly. “I’m sure you wouldn’t last that long” he chuckled. “Sleeping anyway. You’d get bored too quickly” 

Feliciano started to stir a few moments later, whining and stretching out. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, looking around the shack before looking at the other two, then Antonio. “Is he okay?” he asked, shifting a bit. “He could have moved me.” he whispered. “It’s his shack. He shouldn’t sleep on the floor” 

Gilbert snorts. “Really? You really think that he would move you?” He asks, running a hand through his hair. “Toni is head over fucking heels for you. He’d never move you.” He pats Feliciano’s shoulder. “And besides, Toni could sleep anywhere. He’s fine. Just a bit sick, because he found out he ate a human.” He stands up and starts to nudge Antonio awake. The wolf stretches out and sits up slowly, blinking in confusion. 

“Oh… My stomach hurts…” He whines, cradling his head in his hands. He remembers everything and starts to cry again, burying his face in his hands. He tries to calm down, trembling softly. 

Feliciano turned bright red and pulled his knees up to his chest. He buried his face in his knees for a moment before looking up again. “Really? Are you sure?” he looked at Antonio. “About the head over heels part” he whispered. He paused when Antonio started to wake up and blushed deeper. He looked at Antonio and titled his head. He hummed in thought before sliding down on the ground with him. “Toni?” he asked softly. “Everyone does bad things they don’t mean to every now and then. It can’t be changed. But you can prevent it from happening again. And...well I don’t know what you did when you found out. But whenever I have to kill something to eat, I’ll make them a little grave. Huh you should have seen me when I was forced to eat a human. I ran over to the human’s house and nearly woke up the whole neighborhood trying to apologize and tell the family what I did. They were super upset. But they didn’t believe me that I did it for some reason” He whispered. 

“Oh sorry. This isn’t about me though. What my point was that you do things you don’t like sometimes and it’s not always your fault. In both of our cases it wasn’t our fault. I was forced so I wouldn’t die, and you weren’t in control of yourself. Nothing you did while you were like that is your fault” he added on. He was honestly really bad at comfort. But he was hoping it helped. 

Antonio looks over at him and hugs him softly. He closes his eyes tightly and frowns a bit. “It’s not okay.” He whispers and shakes his head a bit. “I made him a grave but it’s not enough. I didn’t have to do that, I should have gotten myself under control.” He whispers, running his hands through his hair desperately. He stands up and peeks outside. “I think it’s safe to go home. I want to sleep in my bed, I’m so tired and I’m sick.” He looks back at them then down again. “I feel horrible. I’m sorry Feli. I want to stay up and talk to you, cause I think we should talk about some stuff. But I don’t think I’m in a good mindset for it.” 

Feliciano blushed again and hugged back. He sighed and rubbed his back slowly before nodding. “Okay. Let’s get you home. You can rest. It’s fine. I really don’t actually need sleep so we can talk in the morning if you want. We just have to be away from the sun. I get tired because I am used to sleep but my body doesn’t really need it. We sleep so we can avoid the sun.” he shrugged. “It’s not like I really have any other place to go either. So you can take all the time you need” 

Antonio looks at him then nods a bit, smiling slightly. He steps out of the shack and heads back toward his house. He feels like he’s in a trance, like he’s dreaming and he’s going to wake up and surprise, no dead human. But somewhere deep inside he knows it’s not a dream. He walks into his house and gets some water before turning to Feliciano. “Don’t… Don’t forget to hunt…” He whispers. 

Feliciano followed him and paused when he turned back to him. “Si I will. You don’t worry about me. Get some rest okay?” he smiled softly. He turned to go out again, finding a small animal and drinking from it. He buried it along with the others before returning to the house. He still wasn’t sure what to do. He’d like to check on Antonio but he didn’t want to bother him either. 

Antonio nods a bit. “Okay, be safe.” He mutters and heads to his room. He lays awake for a long while, only starting to drift off from exhaustion. Most of his wounds are healed and are just scars on his body. He can’t bring himself to care about the scars. 

Feliciano decided to just pop in and look and if he was asleep he would leave. He smiled softly, looking at Antonio. He turned back and went into the room he had again and sat down, swaying back and forth. He laid back and looked up at the ceiling. He wondered if he could change his schedule up. So he wouldn't be so alone at night. He could sleep in the night then be awake during the day. He’d just have to avoid the sun. Maybe he could get a warlock to help him? He knew there were things that allowed vampires to walk in the sun. He just needed to get one. 

Antonio wakes up when it’s almost nightfall again. He sits up slowly and runs a hand through his hair before going to Feliciano’s room and looking in. “Hey…” He closes the door and sits beside him on the bed, smiling brightly at him. “So… We should probably talk about what Gilbert said and what I said…” He pushes his fingers together nervously with a light blush on his face. He couldn’t care less about the vampire/werewolf rivalry, but he’s scared that Feliciano won’t like him back in the same way. 

Feliciano looked up at Antonio and nodded. He smiled and sat up all the way, scooting to make room then looking over at him. “Oh...I understand if you were just saying that because you didn't want my feelings hurt or anything. I don't really mind. It was just a joke on Gil’s part so it’s no big deal” he shrugged slightly. He actually really liked Antonio. But he didn't think Antonio would ever like him like that. Since he was what he was. 

Antonio blushes darkly and looks up at Feliciano. “No no no that’s not what I meant.” He says, pushing his fingers together a bit more. He pulls his hands apart and grasps Feliciano’s. “I wanted to tell you that I really like you and I really think you’re cute and I don’t care about the rivalry. I’m just… I’m just worried because we could seriously injure each other on accident. I don’t want to hurt you…” He tilts his head a bit. “But I wanted to know if you wanted to try being in a relationship. I’ve never done that before, but I could get some books on how it’s supposed to be like. I also won’t be alive forever like you will, so that’s a problem too. But I could change my sleep schedule, I don’t have a problem with sleeping during the day.” 

Feliciano blushed deeply and shifted. “I would like it a lot if we tried that. I really like you too. I just never really thought youd like me back. Oh about the sleep schedule I was wondering if there were any warlocks you know. Because Vampires can get certain things made for them, usually jewlery, so they can walk in the sun. It would be a lot better for both of us if I could go with you places. Plus you have a garden. You have to take care of it” he whispered. 

Antonio puts a hand over Feliciano’s softly and nods. “Arthur doesn’t like me. Not at all. No even a little bit.” He mutters. He is careful with his nails, not wanting to scratch Feliciano at all. “I can take care of my garden and still mostly sleep during the day.” He responds and leans forward. “May I kiss you?” Antonio asks, eyes going over Feliciano’s face. 

Feliciano looked down at their hands and smiled. He looked up at Antonio and nodded. “Okay. Whatever is easiest” he whispered. He looked at Antonio and blushed, nodding. “Si I’d like that” he whispered softly, leaning towards Antonio slightly. 

“Be careful with your teeth.” He says before pressing their lips gently together. He reaches up with his other hand and cups Feliciano’s cheek, smiling into his mouth. He slowly pulls away and looks over Feliciano’s face. “Your lips are warmer than I was expecting.” 

Feliciano nodded and kissed back carefully. He put his arms around Antonio slowly and smiled when he pulled away. He blushed deeply and looked down, smiling softly. “Is that a good thing?” he asked, looking back up at him. 

Antonio nods a bit. He sits back and smiles brightly. “I really enjoyed that…” He sits a bit straighter and pats Feliciano’s head softly. “I’m going to go work in my garden then. I’ll see you in a little bit, amor.” He presses another soft kiss to Feliciano’s lips before grinning and carefully exiting the room. 

Feliciano smiled and nodded. He leaned into his touch and hummed a bit. “Si okay.” he whispered in return, kissing him back gently and laying down again. He smiled happily and looked up at the ceiling. He didn’t care what his grandfather said. Antonio just made him feel the most happy he has ever been.


End file.
